Evil Dead Rise

Summary

“Weird shit like this gets locked away for a reason.”

Warner Bros. has just released the latest chapter in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise, on 4K UHD. I felt a mixture of excitement and trepidation towards viewing the film. Let me explain – I have been a huge fan of the Bruce Campbell led Sam Raimi directed Evil Dead films since I first viewed Army of Darkness late at night on the Sci-Fi channel about twenty five years ago. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that viewing that film completely changed my perspective on horror films. It made a huge impact on my film preferences moving forward. I can’t count how many times I have viewed Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness over the years. At this point is when I should mention that I have not yet viewed the remake of The Evil Dead from a few years back despite having read numerous positive reviews. With that being the case, I won’t be able to talk about any relation that this film has to the remake, so hopefully that won’t be held against my review. The other night I finally settled in to see the latest take on an Evil Dead movie. I knew that Bruce Campbell would not star in the picture, and I did my very best to judge the film purely on its own merits and world building. In many ways the Evil Dead films have been a sacred cow for horror film lovers, which means that perspectives on any type of new film in the series skew towards vitriolic comments. From the many reviews I read online after watching the movie, critics were largely pleased by the film, while fans of the original films were seemingly less receptive to the different ideas that Rise presented. While numerous reviews were scathing, many enjoyed the new take on the film. It is safe to say that the movie is extremely divisive. I personally enjoyed the film on its own merits.

As the film begins, a drone flies over a lake and disturbs a young woman named Teresa (Mirabai Pease) who is reading a novel at the end of a dock. The rude owner of the drone, Caleb (Richard Crouchley,) walks out onto the dock carrying a bottle of liquor. His girlfriend Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas) has been left inside the nearby cabin and has been feeling unwell. Teresa rode there with her cousin Jessica and is stuck there with both of them alone. None of Jessica’s friends arrived as planned. When Teresa goes inside the cabin and checks on Jessica, things are not well. Teresa talks to the silent and ill Jessica, but she can not get a response from her. When Teresa looks back to reading her book, Jessica sits up in her bed and speaks aloud verbatim a frightening passage from Wuthering Heights. Jessica then does some really horrible things that I won’t spoil here. 

One day earlier – guitar technician Beth (Lily Sullivan) sits in the bathroom of a club and takes a pregnancy test. She learns that she is pregnant. After her gig, Beth arrives at a high rise as rain falls down. Inside an apartment, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), a mother of three, attempts to manage her family. Her daughter Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) wants permission to go to a protest but permission is withheld. Her transitioned son Danny (Morgan Davies) is DJing in their bedroom. Her youngest daughter Kassie (Nell Fisher) is cutting the head off a doll. Beth knocks on the door to her sister Ellie’s apartment. When she startles Ellie, she is punched in the face by Ellie reflexively. The sisters have not been extremely close recently. Ellie explains that the high rise is set to be demolished in a month. To make things worse, Elle’s husband moved out a couple months earlier. Elle sends her children to go grab pizza so she can talk with Beth. Their reunion is cut short by what feels like an earthquake as the kids are returning with the pizza. A hole is knocked loose in the ground in the garage of the building. Danny sees what looks to be a bank vault in the hole. Looking in the vault there are a number of Christian symbols, some letters, and a record. Danny grabs the record and also stumbles upon the Necronomicon. Once Danny plays the record that came with the book, the evil force within the book violently possesses Ellie and turns her into a vicious deadite determined to destroy her family.

As I mentioned above, Evil Dead Rise has been received extremely divisively. Having watched the film with mild expectations, I actually enjoyed it pretty well. Evil Dead Rise feels extremely different from Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness because, while there is some gallows humor in the film, the film does not have a lot of laughs or a lot of one-liners. It is closer to a true horror film like the original Evil Dead. I should also mention that this film is pretty damn extreme. It is funny to think that the original Evil Dead received the dreaded X rating, whereas this incredibly violent film was released with a standard R rating. The times are changing.

The script of the film by director Lee Cronin is a pretty warped take on the family horror film. The central premise is essentially – “what if your mother was possessed and wanted to do unspeakable harm to you?” Taking this premise as far as it can go leads to some really unsettling dialogue and makes the attacks on the children that much harder to view. At least in my opinion, this approach worked on my nerves and ratcheted up the tension. This may be because my wife and I have two children myself. The claustrophobic qualities of the characters being trapped in an apartment work and provide a nice alternate setting for an Evil Dead film. 

There were two hiccups in the film’s script that probably have led to some of the fan backlash. The most commented on issue with the film has been in the finale when the picture has a sequence that plays out similar to a creature sequence in The Thing. Many viewers felt that this was just a bridge too far for their suspension of disbelief, or that it felt like this sequence broke some sort of rules set up in the earlier films. This sequence took me out of the film a little bit admittedly, but I thought the payoff was pretty solid. The bigger hiccup in the writing comes to the fact that the characters in the film are not given enough likable qualities before the demonic showdown begins. I think this left many viewers asking themselves “why do I care?” These were the two most commented rebukes of the film that I read, and there is some merit there. All of the characters are in their own ways outsiders, and maybe that hurts their ability to connect with a mass audience. Personally, I think if you have the appropriate expectations of the film, these two hurdles are easy enough to get over and enjoy the creativity that the script displays. Sometimes it can be hard to appreciate a film for “what it is” as opposed to criticizing it for “what it isn’t.” Taken on its own terms, there should be plenty for horror fans to like about the movie.

Lee Cronin’s directorial chops he displays in the film are solid. He brings to life his script with the help of cinematographer Dave Garbett. Garbett had actually been a cinematographer on fourteen episodes of Ash vs. the Evil Dead, so he had plenty of experience directing deadite action scenes. The high rise setting is cleverly used by the filmmaker and his cinematographer. The film has a grungy and claustrophobic edge thanks to the lensing. The films is best enjoyed on a large screen in a darker room, because the cinematography favors lots of shadows. The film is very darkly lit. I think glare would be a real issue attempting to watch this film in the daytime. Cronin brings strong performances out of his entire ensemble with a couple obvious standouts. First and foremost, Alyssa Sutherland’s performance as the possessed Ellie is one of the strongest horror performances I have seen in a long time. She is absolutely dynamite in the role and hopefully this will be a breakout part for her. She is frightening, and you won’t be able to take your eyes off her. Lily Sullivan is well cast as the down-on-her-luck reluctant protagonist of the film. She brings her A-game to the role and is very good in the movie. Nell Fisher is a strong child actor in the role of the youngest daughter Kassie. Both Gabrielle Echols and Morgan Davies are also well cast in their roles. Cronin obviously knew what he wanted to see onscreen and he gets good performances from his cast. The score by Stephen McKeon fits the action and tension of the film well, and I enjoyed hearing an LCD Soundsystem song in an early scene in the movie.

Overall, I think I have laid out pretty well a case for whether or not Evil Dead Rise will be worth your time. I personally was pleased with the film, even though I wouldn’t stack it against the original trilogy. I enjoyed the family drama focused ideas in the script, and I am sure we will see Lee Cronin make some cool projects in the future. Alyssa Sutherland’s performance should find her a lot of work moving forward. If you can go into the film with appropriate expectations, I think that Evil Dead Rise should be one of the more interesting horror films you will see this year.

Video

Presented in Native 4K in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, Evil Dead Rise looks very good in Warner’s UHD presentation, with an obvious caveat. The big thing to understand about this film is that cinematographer Dave Garbett wanted to fill the screen with as much darkness and shadows as possible. The film was shot on digital film using Arri Alexa LF cameras in 4.5K RAW format. The 4K transfer comes from the 4K digital intermediate made of the film, so it is a great representation of the filmmakers original intentions. As long as the viewer understands that this film will be best enjoyed in a room with as little light as possible, this 4K transfer looks great. The 4K allows as much detail to come through in the varying shade of darkness and is a step up from the Blu-ray. It takes full advantage of the added fine detail.

Audio

Evil Dead Rise benefits from an exceptional Dolby Atmos track. Once the film kicks into gear, it is a thrilling auditory experience. Fans of this series would expect no less. Warner’s Atmos track is fantastic.

Supplements:

• There are no special features 

Overall Scores:

Video: 4.5

Audio: 5

Special Features: 0

Overall – 4/5

Evil Dead Rise is as divisive of a horror film as I have watched in a while. Fans of the original film trilogy have lined up online to say whether they loved or hated the direction that writer and director Lee Cronin took the series. Everyone knew that the film would not have the benefit of a wonderful Bruce Campbell performance, but the film also has toned down some of the humor in favor of twisted familial drama. The movie is pretty intense and thrilling. As a fan of the original trilogy, I went into Evil Dead Rise with light expectations and found myself pleased with the picture. It is certainly not perfect, but I would rather celebrate the film for what it is than tear it down for what it is not. It does not measure up to the original trilogy in my eyes, but I enjoyed the new perspective and new setting for an Evil Dead film. The performances of the cast are solid, but Alyssa Sutherland’s performance is a next level breakout role. She absolutely kills it in the film. I am happy to have the film in my collection. I liked it overall and considered it one of the better horror films of the year. Fans of the film will be happy to know that Warner has brought the film to 4K UHD with a digital transfer straight from the 4K master. Watching the film in 4K is easily the best way to experience the film since it is an incredibly dark lit picture. The film benefits from a reference quality Atmos track which brings the incredible sound design of the picture to life. There are no special features on the 4K or Blu-ray disc, but fans of the film should be very happy with the 4K presentation.